This invention relates to mowing apparatus, and more particularly it is concerned with a mowing apparatus having improved means for holding a cord serving as a cutter.
In a mowing apparatus utilizing a nylon cord as a cutter, the nylon cord wound on a spool in a rotary casing has an end portion drawn out from an opening of the rotary casing in a suitable length during mowing operations. In the event that the cord is broken, the rotational speed of the rotary casing is reduced or the rotary casing stops rotating during mowing operations, the cord wound on the spool might become loosened by its own resilience and the portion of the cord drawn out from the casing might be pulled into the casing if the portion of the cord drawn out from the casing through the opening were small in length, thereby making it difficult to draw the cord again from the casing.
To cope with the situation described hereinabove, it has hitherto been usual practice to fit a sponge ring of the doughnut shape over the periphery of the cord wound on the spool, to thereby prevent the wound cord from being loosened. The use of the sponge ring has raised the problem that the large space occupied by the sponge ring in the casing makes it necessary to increase the size of the casing more than is necessary as contrasted to the amount of the cord mounted in the casing, thereby making it impossible to obtain an overall compact size in a mowing apparatus. Another problem raised by the prior art is that the sponge ring has been unable to stably hold the cord in preventing its loosening.